A cat will be your friend, but never your slave

October 28, 2018 9:12 PM

October 29th is National Cat Day in the USA. Show us pictures of your cat(s). Hang out at a cat cafe. Volunteer at a local shelter or Humane Society. Don't forget to watch cute cat videos. If you're a cat, go hassle a dog or just be your badass self.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (35 comments total)

Speaking of badass: housecat stares down cougar.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:13 PM on October 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

My family adopted a cat a week ago. She's 10 years old and missing a fang, but otherwise in great shape. Her adoption papers say that she was found in a feral cat trap and spent some time recovering at a rescue. She had no collar or microchip, but clearly was owned by someone as she seems to understand how to be part of a household without pissing off humans.

I've never owned a house cat, but she is the perfect pet for us. She's old enough to not bother shredding the toilet paper, spends most of her time sleeping on a shelf in the basement, but still down for cuddles and garbage TV in the evening. I love this cat and definitely endorse older cats if you're looking for a chill companion.
posted by Alison at 9:42 PM on October 28, 2018 [32 favorites]

Cat on the catwalk
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:57 PM on October 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

I've never owned a house cat…

And you never will.  It just deigns to employ your services.  Don't give yourself airs.

I kid of course. The only drawback to my current domicile is no pets allowed
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 9:59 PM on October 28, 2018 [10 favorites]

I don't post pictures for privacy reasons, but imagine a small tortoiseshell, about one year old, who has spent the entire evening so far howling at the door to the closet in my office for absolutely no reason. The. Entire. Evening. Help.
posted by Sequence at 10:21 PM on October 28, 2018 [19 favorites]

I love the video but someone rescues the boxer yes?
posted by LarsC at 10:48 PM on October 28, 2018 [1 favorite]

Meow.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:14 PM on October 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

National Cat Day seems redundant to me - - to paraphrase the answer to the perennial kids' question on why there is a Father's Day and Mother's Day, but no Children's Day:

...because everyday is National Cat Day.
posted by fairmettle at 11:33 PM on October 28, 2018 [8 favorites]

Well hey, I guess I picked the right day to adopt a cat from the humane society here in Portland.

His name's Chopper. So now, when I realize I forgot to feed him and need to hurry home, I can yell...
posted by gottabefunky at 11:39 PM on October 28, 2018 [9 favorites]

So, a little while ago, my beloved little man left us very suddenly (cw: sad things). The 7 household grieved for him deeply, but we couldn't really be without kitty companionship for long.

Welcome, then, our new overlords: Dexter, aka Dexter 2, Ginger, Gingernut, Gingernugget, Jinja, Ninja, and Legs; and Dandelion, aka Dondelion, Don-de-loon, Snowflake, Snowball, Bumnut, and Bumnugget. They are best friends who met at the Maneki Neko rescue cat cafe at about 5 months old. Ish.

Dexter had a very hard time as a kitten, and was kept in a cage with his siblings for a long time. He's very skittish and finds it hard to trust men in particular. Dandelion is Dexter's bodyguard and protector, and always has to know where he is, to the point of sitting for hours and watching the wardrobe that Dexter hides under when it's all too much. This does get in the way of his extremely important cuddle time, so he makes up for that by being hilariously affectionate and draping himself over any available human body part. They eat together, nap together, watch pigeons in the backyard together (not pictured: adorable leaning-on-each-other) and play endless games of chase in the bathroom sink.

So yeah, cats are great.
posted by prismatic7 at 12:10 AM on October 29, 2018 [15 favorites]

National Cat Day seems likes a good time for another mention of Kitten Academy as a source for quality kitten and cat coverage. (Previously.)

It's a website/YouTube channel run by a young couple ("DJ" and "Mr. A," who fortunately bears no resemblance to the Steve Ditko comics character of the same name) who specialize in rescuing pregnant cats. They are aided in this endeavor by a "faculty" of a half-dozen permanent cats, plus one dog, who make occasional cameo appearances in their videos.

The idea is that the momcats get a safe place to give birth and stay until the kittens are weaned; they and their kittens get human attention that helps them get socialized; and then once the kittens are old enough, everybody gets spayed/neutered and put up for adoption.

There's a live stream for 24/7 kitten action, but the best videos are the "closeups," which, as the name implies, offer a better look at individual kitten antics. Right now, they have a litter of eight (!) who are getting big enough to get into some entertaining chases, rasslin' matches, and so on.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 1:14 AM on October 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

"...because everyday is National Cat Day."

Just ask any cat.
posted by el io at 1:38 AM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

In other good news, its the UK's national sausage week.
posted by biffa at 1:52 AM on October 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

Cat's rule! I have two! Great company.
posted by HansSchumann at 1:56 AM on October 29, 2018

On my recent trip to Tokyo I witnessed eight gatchapons for humorous cat hats in one block. Naturally I had to get some. I got an onion hat and a banana hat to torment my two cats with, thus far I have only managed to wrangle them into the banana but by god it's worth every second of feline disdain: Korben the banana, Zevo the banana.
posted by Mizu at 2:52 AM on October 29, 2018 [13 favorites]

...imagine a small tortoiseshell, about one year old, who has spent the entire evening so far howling at the door to the closet in my office for absolutely no reason...

Oh, she most certainly has her reasons.
posted by she's not there at 3:56 AM on October 29, 2018 [7 favorites]

We lost our elderly cat recently, and as always, the best cure for our broken hearts is more cats to love, so these seven-month-old sisters came from the shelter on Saturday, and this is the first time all three of them have been out from behind the sofa, and all in one space at the same time. The little tortie on the left is showing every indication of being a real hellion, and the little black one directly across from her is proving to be her companion in mayhem. The one in the back is still much too shy to be showing much of her personality, but we're getting there. Still finalising the names, but we're sticking with the shelter names of Jacynthia (tortie) and Elspeth for the two in the front, because we've seen enough of their personalities to think those names suit them. The little lady in the back was given the name of Sian, which is lovely, but I tend to prefer names of more than one syllable for cats, so we will see.
posted by skybluepink at 4:21 AM on October 29, 2018 [9 favorites]

We adopted cat the second two weeks ago yesterday, to keep cat the first company. It is working well :). And new cat - a 9 month old tuxedo - is the dearest kit-teen ever. Sweet, mischievous, and already the boss of her bruiser big brother.
posted by eirias at 4:51 AM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ah, cats! I like cats. When they were with me, I liked Autumn Ecclesiastes ("Nor"), Valentine (I did not name this cat, he came with the name and I called him "Tine"), and Africa Mephistopheles ("Freak"). Currently I like Ungrateful Bastard ("Youbee") and Kobayashi Maru ("Kobe"). They are allowed outside under supervision -- if it's daytime and I'm home doing yard stuff, they can be out with me. I live approximately two miles from the hard road, so traffic is not really an issue.
posted by which_chick at 5:12 AM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

CATS what a good
posted by poffin boffin at 5:54 AM on October 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I let Walter have an Instagram account.
posted by thivaia at 5:54 AM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

by god it's worth every second of feline disdain

Mizu, I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:39 AM on October 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

To my amazement, both cats were snuggly purry affectionate weirdos not even an hour after I'd banana'd either of them. I really lucked out with these guys - if I'd had any of my previous cats I would have just looked at the wall of gatchapons wistfully and moved on. In conclusion: cats are weird and I love them.
posted by Mizu at 7:15 AM on October 29, 2018 [6 favorites]

The subject was cats: when Boswell said he didn’t care for them, Rousseau pounced. Men who disliked cats were tyrannical: “They do not like cats because the cat is free and will never consent to become a slave. He will do nothing to your order, as the other animals do.” “Nor a hen, either,” Boswell objected. “A hen would obey your orders if you could make her understand them,” the philosopher rejoined, “but a cat will understand you perfectly and not obey them.” Rousseau seems to have been in earnest with this theory of feline independence, for the frontispiece of The Social Contract features Lady Liberty accompanied by a cat.

— Robert Zaretsky & John T. Scott, The Philosophers’ Quarrel, p. 36.

Via The Virtual Stoa
posted by chappell, ambrose at 8:12 AM on October 29, 2018 [8 favorites]

My FB memories are a gold mine of pretty pictures of my feline overlord today. I love that floof so much.
posted by wellred at 9:28 AM on October 29, 2018

Please be aware that the link in the OP to "Show us pictures of your cat(s)" has horrific stories of cat torture, cats being thrown from moving cars, shot with guns, set on fire, etc., linked right there on the page with photos. Mods might want to put a warning, as animal abuse is a major trigger for a lot of us. I've been crying hard since I clicked on the link, and that is the opposite of what I wanted.
posted by tzikeh at 10:58 AM on October 29, 2018 [5 favorites]

Instrumentalist Henry Dagg honors cats in his own unique way.
posted by zaixfeep at 11:39 AM on October 29, 2018

Mod note: Changed out the "show us pictures of your cats" link to a completely different, hopefully non-horrific-news-containing one that Johnny Wallflower provided. Sorry about that!
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 1:18 PM on October 29, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm so sorry, tzikeh. I'll be more careful in future.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:23 PM on October 29, 2018 [3 favorites]

rednikki and I have been traveling around Europe since June taking care of people's cats (and non-cats). Here's an Instagram collage showing the eight fuzz balls we've had the pleasure of getting to know.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 1:32 PM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Ms Kitty is not impressed with our pinky-centrist notion of National Cat Day, as she agrees with the sentiments posted above; of course, every day is Cat Day! However, she deigned to humor us by pwning Pinky Man for the photo.
posted by Lynsey at 3:26 PM on October 29, 2018

Sequence.....open the damn door already!

Obey the will of cat rule.
posted by mightshould at 4:40 PM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

The subject was cats: when Boswell said he didn’t care for them, Rousseau pounced. Men who disliked cats were tyrannical: “They do not like cats because the cat is free and will never consent to become a slave. He will do nothing to your order, as the other animals do.” “Nor a hen, either,” Boswell objected. “A hen would obey your orders if you could make her understand them,” the philosopher rejoined, “but a cat will understand you perfectly and not obey them.” Rousseau seems to have been in earnest with this theory of feline independence, for the frontispiece of The Social Contract features Lady Liberty accompanied by a cat.

I'm pretty sure that putting cats in charge leads straight to a reign of terror.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 8:34 PM on October 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

> Cat on the catwalk

More: A Cat Made A Surprise Appearance At A Fashion Show And People Love It
posted by homunculus at 12:04 PM on November 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Goto love cats! We have five (don't they say they are like chocolates - one is never enough) all Gingers. Three are rescue cats and two are neighbourhood cats who have just moved in with us > ^..^<
posted by Catmando at 8:11 AM on November 12, 2018